“I think this is the dumbest idea we’ve ever had,” Gilda said before glancing back at Private Bouncing Breeze. The pegasus just flashed her a grin. “And for us, that’s saying something.”
“Awwww, what’s wrong, Gilda? You aren’t scared, are you? It’s going to be awesome! Nothing wakes me up in the morning like dragon jumping!” Bouncing said happily, her glaive held tightly in her hooves and her wings flapping slowly to keep pace with the griffon. “If you’re worried, you can always go back and help them evacuate everypony.”
Gilda rolled her eyes. “Not bad because the dragon. But having to go on another mission with you and Coldstone. I don’t want to lose my breakfast already!” she said before flapping her wings a bit faster and taking off ahead. She glanced down towards the sand below. Private Coldstone and Corporal Legendary Destiny were just a little ahead of them. HOW the latter could run that fast with that massive battle axe on his back was anyone’s guess. She was certain she could have gone past him if she wanted, but he was technically the one in charge.
Negotiate with a dragon. Of all the half brained, daft ideas she’d ever heard, that one took the cake. It was just so pony! How did you NEGOTIATE with a dragon? They were multiple story tall beasts of destruction!
She flew up just a little, allowing her to see over the dunes ahead and suppressed the urge to turn around and fly away. If ever there was a reason to go AWOL she was looking at it. That was DEFINITELY a dragon. Walking on all fours, it still towered over any of them by multiple measures of magnitude. Even in the moonlight its scales seemed to glimmer a dark red. Each step made its razor sharp claws dig into the sand. What kind of brain dead scheme was this? Why had she volunteered for this? Why was SHE so brain dead? Ugh. She should have just let Thorax do this. The daft changeling was already well on his way to volunteering, she knew it. If she was smart, next time she’d let him. Instead she was out here in some kind of ‘delay’ squad until they could get everypony out of that stupid town or Ash could finish brewing whatever stupid potion she was making to help get the captain back in order and hold off a dragon until help arrived. Or they all died. Likely the last option. She watched Legendary crest the hill first and barely suppressed the urge to face claw once he started talking. She drifted down, landing besides Bouncing and Coldstone, who were standing behind the earth pony. She wondered if they looked like a nice row of snacks like this to the dragon.
“Listen well, great reptilian behemoth! I am Corporal Legendary Destiny of the Badland Mooners!” he yelled, his voice booming through the air.
The dragon paused for a moment, his eyes looking to the left and then the right. Finally, he spoke up. “Who is there? Reveal yourself.”
“I… I am right here. No. Up. Up here. On the dune. No, not that one. Here. HERE! Directly in your path!” Legendary yelled. “YES! Right here!” he yelled. “You can--”
The dragon began to laugh, shaking his head. “Oh. Little pony. I barely saw you there.” Flames began to form in his mouth, slowly billowing up along his lips. “Go away, little pony. You are not what I fear.”
Legendary gave a loud scoff before bucking his hips up, sending his axe into the air, the blade embedding into the sand besides him, the handle by his mouth. “I will not move! You shall not pass, oh creature of fire and steel! For we are noble ponies, and griffon, of Mooner! We will NOT allow any threat to enter these lands so long as we draw breath! If you wish to enter our territory, you shall have no choice but to do it over our bodies!”
Gilda let out a groan, watching the dragon laugh even harder. Let Legendary do the talking, how could it go wrong? Then the dragon reared his head back and let out a stream of fire, the flames turning the sand to glass while it steadily went up the dune towards the group. She and Bouncing flew up into the air, while Coldstone galloped to the right, his horn glowing and forming spikes of ice in the air around him. Legendary stared at the dragon in bafflement for a moment. “Very well! Then you have chosen defeat, ignoble beast!” He then lunged forward, taking the axe in his mouth and running down the dune towards it, leaping to the left of the flames to avoid them.
The flames died down and the dragon just continued to laugh while the pony charged him. Gilda continued to rise up into the air, glancing towards Bouncing who gave her a nod. At least this was going to be fun. Incredibly stupid, ridiculous and suicidal. But also fun. If there was one thing that Gilda had learned in her time here, it was that ponies were not nearly as harmless as they appeared. That and if something was impossible they would do it anyway regardless of what common sense, reasoning or survival instinct told them. Because that was just what ponies did apparently, because why let a little thing like reality slow you down? It was almost endearing, when it didn’t get her killed. When the golden colored pony leaped into the air, the dragon only watched in mild amusement when the axe swung at his forelegs.
The amusement disappeared when the axe connected and, while it didn’t cut through the scales, there was a resounding clang through the air and the leg was knocked to the side, sending the dragon toppling forward with a startled and undignified yelp. The pony didn’t stop, though, instead racing under the stumbling dragon and bringing the axe against his hind legs next, causing the dragon to fully topple over onto his side and struggle to get back up, flapping its wings and banging his tail wildly.
“STUPID PONY!” the dragon yelled before righting himself. That was her queue. She gave Bouncing a nod before she dove down, the pegasus a few seconds behind her.
The dragon’s wings spread out and his mouth opened, the beginning of flames forming in the back of his throat while he searched wildly for the earth pony. It took him a few seconds to see Legendary running back around, intending to come up for another swing.
Gilda smirked besides herself when she slammed all four of her talons down on the top of the dragon’s mouth, slamming his mouth shut and causing smoke and flame to leak out from his nostrils. “Hey, the only one who gets to burn him is US!” she yelled, flapping her wings and tugging her metal covered talons out of the beast’s maw. Sadly, she only managed to dent the scales, not fully cut, but judging by the shrieks of pain the dragon had not enjoyed the sudden jaw snap. She flew back up, narrowly avoiding his claws that reached up to hold his snout.
The dragon flapped his wings once, likely intending to fly up into the air. Unfortunately for him, stopping that was Bouncing’s job. The pegasus’ glaive came down from the sky in a piercing streak, cutting a large tear down the entirety of the right wing. Without the balance of his wings, his lift off became more of an unwieldy leap, making him crash to the ground with an earth shaking thump. Bouncing drove the butt of her glaive into the side of the dragon when she passed, pole vaulting herself back and up into the air and away from the flailing beast.
“Think we made him mad enough?” Gilda asked.
“Have at you, foul invading beast!” Legendary yelled before charging at the dragon, bringing the axe down on one of his paws and managing to actually chip away a few scales, as well as make him roar with a furious rage.
“Well, if not, I’m sure Legendary will find out how!” Bouncing yelled before she pulled her wings in and dove down at the dragon, the blade of her glaive out. “Geronimo!”
Gilda rolled her eyes before diving after the pegasus. The glaive dug into the shoulder of the dragon, only for the pegasus to use it to propel herself up and over the dragon’s head, hitting him in the snout when she passed over. The griffon streaked down the arm itself, digging her talons into the scales as firmly as she could, trying to cut away some of the scales. To her delight, she finally DID manage to tear away a chunk of them, before she shoved off, flying back up into the air.
The dragon’s mouth was suddenly besides her and she could see the flames forming. “B-buck!” she shrieked, pulling her wings in and spinning, barely dropping out of the way in time to avoid a burst of fire. Sudden shards of ice flew past her, striking twice into the mouth and once on the nose, making the dragon rear his head back with a pained, furious roar, his front paws reaching up to hold his nose.
The icicles didn’t just stop where they hit, though, quickly spreading out and coating the snout in ice. A shame the first two didn’t make it past the fire. A moment later five more icicles shot out, striking the dragon’s paws and freezing them to his face. Gilda spread out her wings, catching herself before flapping hard, sending herself out of the way of the rampaging beast. Legendary was on the ground, slashing and cutting at the dragon’s legs to keep him off balance, while Bouncing kept pole vaulting off the dragon, her glaive digging in with each blow only for her to leverage it into another leap.
She almost felt bad for the dragon. Almost. Even with the shards of ice striking the dragon’s body, it didn’t actually seem to be doing much, if any, damage. They may have been managing to hurt it a little, but this beasty wasn’t going to be going down anytime soon.
She hoped whatever Ash was brewing up with be finished soon, otherwise there wouldn’t be any of them left by the time help arrived.
------
“What do you mean, gone?” Moondancer asked. “The most powerful pony in all of Equestria can’t just be GONE!” she yelled, trying to avoid screaming at the top of her lungs at the poor guard pony who brought her the news.
“She’s not responding to any messages,” the guard pony said softly. “I’m sorry, we’ve tried a dozen times, but--”
“Is there any sign of her royal highness?!” A pegasus stallion in the royal armor asked before he barged into the room, a report held bundled in his hooves.
Moondancer didn’t even answer, instead tearing the report from his hooves. “Not yet. What is it-- oh buck,” she muttered. She felt as if she was sinking. And it only got worse when two more guards came running in with even more reports.
Why would Nightmare Moon choose NOW to go missing? A pair of dragons making a move on the Badlands, a strange crystal castle appearing in the north, a quarter of the shadow weavers had flat out disappeared and those who remained were claiming their magic was acting weird, either not responding or fighting them. On top of that, all of the shades seemed to have disappeared. Other methods of teleportation and long range communication were acting strange as well. Now was NOT the time for Nightmare Moon to go on a vacation.
Worst of all, now all four ponies were staring at her. Did they expect HER to make decisions? The last thing she needed was for Nightmare Moon to come back to her running things. She’d be lucky to just be banished. If the alicorn thought for a moment that she was trying to usurp the throne there would be no end to the consequences.
But if she DIDN’T do something, then Equestria would stall. Everything could, would go wrong. They needed to act. But their ruler wasn’t here. No no no no no. She couldn’t do this alone. She felt like she was lost in a storm. She had to do something but what could she do? She felt as if the panic was starting to drown her, drawing every gasp of air out of her lungs. Everything was going to go wrong and it was all her fault. Nopony BUT her could handle this. Yet she couldn’t. She needed help. Oh by Celestia she needed--
“I just heard about the dragons!” Twilight yelled, galloping into the room. “Where’s Nightmare Moon?” she asked before looking around.
“I wish you could tell me,” Moondancer said, barely managing to choke the words out. Something had to be done. Why was it her responsibility to do it? She wasn’t a ruler. She was a student, at best. This was too much for her. But everypony was staring at her. No. Not just her. Her AND Twilight.
She wasn’t alone.
Moondancer glanced to the earth pony. She wasn’t alone. She had a friend who was besides her. As if suddenly there was a small island in the middle of this storm, everything felt just a little calmer. She had to get preparations going. The choking panic slowly began to pull back. “Okay. First thing’s first,” she said with a confidence she didn’t feel. “Ready the Equestrian Defensive Forces. They leave towards the Badlands in an hour. Have every outposts nearby ready to reinforce the area. Whatever Shadowbolts can be spared are to depart ahead of the main force immediately, they’re the most mobile. Well? Get on it!” she snapped.
The first pony nodded, bowing her head before turning to run. She then turned her attention to the second. “Ponies are to monitor the castle for the time being, do not engage. Defensive measures. I want hourly reports sent. Wait, no, every half hour.” The second pony bowed his head and turned.
She turned to the last two. “Alert all shadow weavers to avoid using that type of magic for the time being, partner with another unicorn and assist them. See if we can get our systems back in working order. Now is not the time for communication issues. Continue to search for the shades, but for the moment, that is the last priority. Go. NOW!” she ordered, throwing in a bit of the Canterlot Royal Voice with that order. Once the door slammed shut behind the last of the soldiers, she gave a sigh and nearly dropped.
“That was impressive,” Twilight whispered.
“It really wasn’t,” Moondancer said with a shake of her head. “All I did was buy a bit of time. If Nightmare Moon gets back then--”
“Then she’ll take over and find everything was already done and so she just has to give the orders to continue,” Twilight said, cutting her off. “And that you and I worked together to ensure that everything worked smoothly, so if she gets mad she’ll yell at both of us.”
Moondancer couldn’t keep the smile from creeping up the corners of her mouth. Even if Twilight really was the one who would replace her entirely and become some great savior of ponykind, she couldn’t deny there was nopony else she’d rather have by her side. Who knew? Maybe she could be a useful side note to the mare’s journey.
“So, what’s the situation?” Twilight asked. “I thought Nightmare Moon would be here by now.”
“Grim,” Moondancer said, the smile fading from her mouth. “We’ve sent alarms to Nightmare Moon, but she hasn’t responded. For all I know, she’s already there and hasn’t found the time to alert us. Or they’re not even arriving. Messages are dropping a lot right now. On top of that, well...” She motioned to the reports. “I’ll be leaving with our forces in an hour to--”
“We will be,” Twilight corrected her.
“Twilight, this is dangerous, you don’t need to come. I can--”
“It’s dangerous, there’s no way I’m letting you go in alone. Besides, if the Shadowbolts are going, that means Rainbow will likely be there too. If I stay here I’ll be nothing but a ball of worry.” The earth pony walked towards her and took the top report off the pile. “Shadow weavers are having trouble, too? Do you think it’s why Nightmare Moon hasn’t joined us?”
“Probably,” Moondancer said with a soft sigh. “She chose a heck of a time to do it, though. First the dragons, then this crystal castle popping up, and--” She stopped in mid sentence. “Actually, Twilight, I think coming with me to the Badlands would be a bad idea.”
The earth pony glared at her. “I told you I won’t--”
“No, it’s not because I want you to wait here,” Moondancer said quickly. “This.” Her horn glowed when she moved the reports around, shuffling the one on the crystal castle to the top of the list. “A strange castle, seemingly made of crystal, has appeared in the Frozen North. They have ponies, but they’re strange. The Badlands are on the south side of the country, I can’t deal with both. But we need information on what is going on, who these ponies are. I can’t think of any pony better to make first diplomatic contact with them.”
Twilight stared at her, her mouth falling open. “Wait, me? Why? I’m not a diplomat. I don’t know the--”
“You’re smarter than probably everypony in this city, you know Nightmare Moon better than anypony, you know how to keep the angriest alicorn in existence, Nightmare Moon, calm during her fits and, frankly, you’re well known as one of Nightmare Moon’s most trusted advisors. Did I mention enough connections to Nightmare Moon? Because I’ve got quite a few more. If anypony can stall things until we can tend to this dragon issue, you can.”
“Tend to it?” Twilight asked. “It’s… how many dragons are there? I heard there were at least three.”
“Two, as far as we know,” Moondancer said with a small shudder. “Good to know the rumor mill is already working to make it seem like more. Luckily, I don’t think they’re actually working together, judging by the reports. Or, at least, not fully. One of them seems to be hanging back while the other has triggered a lot of alarms. Hopefully we’ll be able to get a sizeable force out there before they actually make it to any of our outposts. Or, at least, until Nightmare Moon comes back. Could really use some excessive alicorn firepower right about now,” Moondancer said firmly.
Twilight nodded before glancing back towards the report. “Are you sure about this?”
“I’m not going to be putting myself into any real danger,” Moondancer said firmly. “All I’ll be doing is supervising until Nightmare Moon returns to take over. I’m not a warrior, so I’ll be fine. I’ll expect the same from you. All I want you to do is find out what you can, but do not engage or try and form any alliances right away. For now, just stall. Please.”
Twilight nodded once more. “I can do that. Just make sure to be careful. Please. Dragons aren’t… well…”
“They’re dangerous, deadly and destructive. But they also tend to spend more time fighting each other than they do us. All we have to do is drive them off. If we’re lucky, Nightmare Moon will be back before we even get there.”
“Right. I… guess I’ll go get packed and ready to go. I hope Nightmare Moon does show, though. If ever we could use her...”
“I’m sure whatever she’s doing is important. I can’t imagine anything stopping her for long, especially at a time when we really need her.”
------
Nightmare Moon let out a giddy, malevolent laugh before forming another row of shadowy blades, slashing into and through the gathered darkness that opposed her. To imagine something so pathetic and weak had thought to challenge her. If it wasn’t so rude, it would have been laughable.
No, it was still pretty laughable. She’d teach this darkness who truly ruled the night. As if her claim could ever be challenged.
Once more she cut through the shadows, causing a pained, agonized scream to emit through the air from the ‘thing’, but she ignored it. She had become even mightier than she had initially thought, she would have imagined the Umbrum putting up a much more difficult fight.
She tore into it, her power stripping away its defenses with wanton glee. How could it ever hope to challenge her? They’d only been fighting a few seconds and already it was losing so easily. She couldn’t imagine why it hadn’t decided to flee yet.